休假趣史

Host: This week， we’re thinking about summer vacations. Today， a little history.

Until the middle of the 19th century， Americans used the word “vacation” the way the English do， the time when teachers and students vacate the school 1)premises and go off on their own. In those days， a vacation was also a mark of privilege. Over time， the vacation became a middle-class institution， as well as a time for physical， mental and spiritual selfimprovement， not to mention sheer entertainment.

Cindy Aron (History Prof.): The first vacationers in the early part of the 19th century were elite people， some of whom were going away for their health.

Host: But as for the notion that we need a break from work， that there’s some virtue to leisure， you say that at the beginning， our 2)Puritan roots had people who worked six days a week and then the seventh day went to church and heard preachers telling them all about how good it is to work and the 3)vices of 4)idleness.

Cindy: Yes， absolutely. For Puritans， work was extremely important. Idleness is suspect.

Host: So， when do we start seeing people advocating the idea of some organized idleness in…in the summer and that’s a good thing?

Cindy: By the middle of the 19th century， not only doctors—of course， doctors are beginning to say it’s important to get away for your health—but you even begin to see some ministers beginning to turn around. And there begins to be fears about businessmen—businessmen who were suffering brain fatigue. There was also an infrastructure growing up. The railroad is realizing “We could get people to the shore， and we could build a hotel at the other end，” and you begin to see a whole vacationing infrastructure growing up.

Host: But there’s a critical role here played by churches. 5)The Methodist Church is very active in this， and there are resorts， whether in 6)Martha’s Vineyard or in the Delaware shore， that are founded as resorts， but there’s some religious 7)dimension to them as well.

Cindy: Absolutely. Methodist campgrounds evolve into religious resorts， and there’s a reason for this. And the reason is part of what made the middle class is that they had worked hard， they 8)ascribed to certain values: hard work， discipline， 9)sobriety， which allowed them to accumulate enough resources to go on vacation.

Host: Right.

Cindy: And then they went on vacation， where they were tempted to…

Host: Idleness， drunkenness and all of those things.

Cindy: Exactly， all of…all of…all of those things. So， there needed to be a form of vacation where middleclass people could feel， OK， I can take a vacation， but I don’t have to be worried by the temptations of idleness， and religious resorts were perfect. No drinking， no smoking. You couldn’t bathe on Sundays.

Host: So， when did the American vacation turn into something…well， when where people more interested in improving their 10)serve than their soul， let’s say， when they went away in the summer? When did this change take place?

Cindy: Well， there were some people who always went on vacation to improve their serve， OK， without a doubt， you know， fancy balls and courting. But the public discussion about vacations， all over the newspapers， that vacations were potentially dangerous—there’s tension between work and play.

Host: A friend of mine once quoted a European who had told him， “We…we work so that we can go on vacation， we Europeans. You Americans go on vacation so that you can go back and work.” Do you think that’s true?

Cindy: I think there’s something of a truth in that， and I think it’s an old story. I think if you look at the history and you look at this tension between work and leisure in American culture， I mean， we have this love-hate relationship with our vacations， and I think we’ve had it from the beginning.

Host: I think that’s a great note to conclude on.

主持人：這一周，我們都在想夏季假期這事兒；今天，我們來聊一下休假的歷史。

一直到19世紀中期，美國人使用“休假”一詞的方式與英國人一樣，那就是指老師和學(xué)生離開學(xué)校，自由自在的那段時間。在那個時候，休假是特殊待遇的一種標志。漸漸地，休假成了中產(chǎn)階層的一種習(xí)慣，是讓身體、腦力和心靈獲得自我提高的時間，至于來點純粹的娛樂，那更是理所當然了。

辛迪·阿倫（歷史教授）：在19世紀早期，最早的休假者是精英階層，他們其中一部分人去度假是因為身體原因。

主持人：但說到我們需要放下工作休息一下，說到休閑也是有好處的這種觀念，你說在一開始，我們的清教信仰決定了人們一周工作六天，然后在第七天到教堂去聽牧師跟他們說工作是一種高尚品德，而閑散則是一種罪惡。

辛迪：是的，確實如此。對于清教徒來說，工作非常的重要，而閑散才是我們要提防的。

主持人：那么，是從什么時候開始有人提倡應(yīng)該在夏天安排有序的閑散時間，而這樣做其實是好事？

辛迪：到了19世紀中期，不僅僅是醫(yī)生——當然，醫(yī)生也開始說去度假對健康有好處——甚至有些牧師的態(tài)度也開始發(fā)生變化。當時人們開始擔心商人——那些腦力疲勞的商人。同時，基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的建設(shè)也正如火如荼，鐵路方面意識到，“我們可以把人送到海邊，可以在鐵路的盡頭蓋旅館”。于是，休假基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施開始出現(xiàn)。

主持人：但教堂在其中起了一個關(guān)鍵的作用。衛(wèi)理公會在這個問題上非常積極，他們在一些地方，如馬撒葡萄園島和特拉華州的海邊有度假勝地。……